Gonzaga University

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Template:Infobox University Gonzaga University is a private, co-educational university located in Spokane, Washington. Founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and was named after the patron saint of youth, Aloysius Gonzaga. The campus has 88 buildings scattered across 108 acres (437,000 m²) of grassy land along the Spokane River, in a residential setting half a mile (800 m) from downtown Spokane.

Gonzaga's liberal arts tradition lies in its core curriculum, which integrates philosophy, theology, mathematics, literature, natural and social sciences, and extensive writing in students' major disciplines. In addition, Gonzaga offers programs in preparation to professional schools in dentistry, law, medicine, nursing and veterinary medicine. Gonzaga also sponsors an Army ROTC program. Students may study abroad at Gonzaga's campus in Florence, Italy, or at other programs in England, France, Spain, Japan, China and Mexico. Biology majors have options for field studies in Australia, Baja-Mexico, British West Indies, Costa Rica and Kenya.

The annual 2004-05 budget is listed on the university's website as being $100.43 million, with an annual payroll of $47.40 million. Average class size is 25, and there are 299 employed faculty. There are 44 Jesuits on campus, as well as 582 non-faculty employees. Enrollment in totality is estimated to be about 5,826 (about 3,945 undergraduate) students. Gonzaga's Law School is one of three law schools in Washington state. The other two are the University of Washington School of Law and Seattle University School of Law. It is consistently the lowest ranked law school of the three by U.S. News & World Report, fluctuating year-to-year between third and fourth tier status.

Gonzaga University has been routinely ranked 4th in the U.S. News rankings for Universities-Master's in the West [1].

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Famous alumni

Both singer Bing Crosby and former Speaker of the House Tom Foley attended Gonzaga. Washington governor Christine Gregoire, the state's first female state attorney general, and George Nethercutt, former Representative and 2004 Republican candidate for US Senate, are alumni of Gonzaga Law School. In a recent election cycle in Washington state there was at least one Gonzaga graduate in almost every race, highlighting the quality of the university's education and the graduates that it produces. Along with various other well known politcal figures (ranging from senators to representatives to mayors to governors) Gonzaga also has many graduates who serve as judges - such as supreme court judges - along with a long line of distinguished individuals within the legal profession.

The Chad Mitchell Trio, a folk group famous in the 1960s, met at Gonzaga.

Among sports figures, John Stockton of NBA's Utah Jazz fame; the Boston Celtics' Dan Dickau; the Houston Rockets' Richie Frahm; Los Angeles Lakers' Ronny Turiaf; Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder and 2004 National League Rookie of the Year Jason Bay; and MLS and U.S. international soccer player Brian Ching are all graduates.

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Sports

Gonzaga University, whose players are officially nicknamed the Bulldogs but often called the Zags, is part of the NCAA Division I West Coast Conference. Its men's basketball team, which did not make its first appearance in the NCAA tournament until 1995 (more than a decade after John Stockton graduated), has become nationally prominent since making the regional finals of the NCAA tournament ("Elite Eight") in 1999.

Gonzaga University basketball games are now held in the newly constructed McCarthey Athletic Center, in which the Gonzaga men's basketball team has never lost. Before the McCarthey Center was built, the Bulldogs played occasional high-profile nonconference games off campus at the larger Spokane Arena; today, the only game regularly played there is the annual meeting with local rival Eastern Washington. As of the end of the 2005/2006 NCAA Division I season, Gonzaga men's basketball team has won 40 consecutive home games, which holds up as the largest home winning streak in the nation. They have also won 25 consecutive games against other WCC teams.

Two of Gonzaga's most notable athletes are basketball players, center J.P. Batista and Player of the year candidate forward Adam Morrison, regarded for his likeness to Hall of Famer Larry Bird and his infamous moustache. The head coach is Mark Few, who has been the West Coast Conference coach of the year in every year since 2001.

Gonzaga University also has a dominant ROTC Ranger Challenge team who, until this year, hadn't lost in over 9 years.

Like many smaller private universities, Gonzaga discontinued its football program during World War II, due to declining enrollment, but not before producing Pro Football Hall of Famers Tony Canadeo and Ray Flaherty.

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Campus politics

Gonzaga University students are politically divided, but tend to have a reputation for liberal values in social and political affairs. Although other universities may have a more pronounced liberal tilt, half of all students who voted cast their ballots for John Kerry and the percentage of students self-identifying as liberals is slightly larger than self-described conservatives. {see below}.

The students have a reputation for being fairly active in regard to politics (in comparison to other academic institutions). Boasting a nationally renowned faculty, along with various famous political figures, Gonzaga's political-science department is regarded as one of the better programs in the United States. In addition, the College Republicans, Young Democrats and Campus Libertarians all boast club membership to be in the several hundreds.

Using Facebook, on November 26th, 2005, the 2,360 students that list their political orientation and currently attend Gonzaga University described themselves as such:

Gonzaga is sometimes jokingly referred to by its attendees as "a liberal oasis in a conservative desert," a reference to its position in eastern Washington, which is considered to be more culturally attuned to Idaho and Montana than with Seattle.

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External links



Template:West Coast Conference Template:Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities

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